House of Commons Elects Speaker

Parliament is back in session after five months off. With a new parliament after the January election, the first order of business was the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons. Peter Milliken, the Liberal member of parliament for Kingston and the Islands who has been Speaker since 2001, was re-elected easily. Being Speaker isn't an easy job, especially with a minority government making the atmosphere in the House tense and events far from predictable. The rewards of the job are good though. The Speaker of the House of Commons gets an extra $70,800 on top of his MP's salary of $147,700.

In this parliament it suits the Conservative minority government to have a Liberal in the Speaker's chair. In a minority government every vote counts, and since the Speaker can only vote in the case of a tie, it sidelines one opposition vote. The party standings as the House of Commons opens are: 125 Conservatives, 102 Liberals, 51 Bloc, 29 New Democrats and 1 Independent.

Photo: Courtesy City of Ottawa

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